Virtuous Lovers
by Irakih
Summary: A crush evolves into a confession, then more. *Jou x Iori*
1. Confession

Virtuous Lovers 1 of 7: Confession

"Jou-san?"

"Yes, Iori-kun?... ...Iori-kun?"

Iori had been following close behind, but Jou turned around to see Iori had stopped walking. The younger boy also seemed different than usual. Instead of his usual polite upward glance, he stared at the pavement of the walkway. His firm but gentle hold on Upamon had turned into a bit of a squeeze. Even his face was a little paler than usual.

"Iori-kun? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm feeling completely fine. But Jou-san, I do have something that I need to tell you."

"What's that, Iori-kun?"

"Jou-san... I have to thank you for being so wonderful to me. You're an amazing person."

"Oh no, not at all."

"No!"

Iori stared upward at Jou now, looking very firm. Jou was surpised... Iori-kun usually appricieted polite things like humility.

"I'm sorry, Jou-san. Please don't misunderstand. I just wanted to be sure that you know that **I** think you're amazing."

And again he was facing toward the ground, now fidgeting with Upamon's fur. Jou smiled. So that was it, he thought, Iori's idea of a confession. "Right," Jou said, touching the top of Iori's head. "I've got it now. Thanks. And I like you, too."

"Really?" Iori said happily, looking at Jou. When their eyes met, he looked again. "Oh no, I mean... Well, I guess I did mean that."

"See, I told you it would be okay! Can you loosen up your grip now?" Upamon asked.

"Oh, right," Iori said as he followed through with the request.

Jou laughed. Iori's face turned red, but then finally, he smiled too.


	2. Waiting Game

Virtuous Lovers 2 of 7: Waiting Game

"Ha!" Iori shouted as he did his Kendo practice. He continued to shout as he swung, over and over again in a perfect rhythm. Finally he sat, well, almost fell down next to Upamon, as he was finished.

Upamon cheered, and tried to clap, but it was kind of difficult in his current form. "Iori, you were really great today! You had so much energy!"

Iori frowned. He didn't even look at Upamon as he took off his gear.

"Iori! I-O-RI!"

"I'm sorry... What were you saying, Upamon?"

"Something's wrong, isn't it, Iori?"

"I know it's silly, but I was just thinking about how little I am."

"So what? I'm even smaller than you!"

"That's true, but..."

"And when I Digivolve, I get even bigger! But I'm still me, and Iori's still Iori, when he's little or big to me. That kind of thing doesn't matter."

"That's true. I suppose it doesn't matter that Jou-san is tall and I'm short. But I'm also much younger than him."

"And I'm younger than you. So is that girl you baby-sat. She was still pretty fun to be around."

"It's different for me, Upamon. I've been the shortest and youngest of a lot of groups, even the chosen children."

"That's just because you're so mature, you can hang out with people that are older!"

"I've been told that... But even when people know me, sometimes being little and young, I'm just considered cute and not taken seriously."

"Iori..."

"I can be patronized... Just for my age or my appearance." Iori clenched his fist.

"Oh... And it's Jou you're worried about. Even Jou would patronize you, huh? That's too bad... Jou doesn't seem like he'd do that kind of thing. I even thought he took your confession seriously. I'm just not the Digimon to guess these things. It's really too bad that Jou is like everyone else."

"No!" Iori exclaimed. "Jou-san is not that kind of person at all! He's a good person, he always takes the time to listen to me respectfully! And he..." Iori stopped.

"No? Jou-san doesn't do those things? That's great! Then who were you worried about?"

"Um... I guess no one then, Upamon. I guess I'm not worried about anything," Iori said. Weights seemed to lift away as his expression lightened.

"Is that right? That's great. Want to go home?"

"Yes, let's go now, Upamon." Iori said. Calmly, he packed up his things. "Just because I haven't heard from Jou-san doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah. What would it mean?" Upamon asked.

"Nothing... Except maybe that I need to continue to have faith in those I already trust."

"Yeah! But how did you come up with that from this?"

"It's not important, Upamon," Iori said with a smile. "Let's go home now."

CENTER*/CENTER

"I'm home!" Iori said as he walked in the door.

"Iori, welcome back. You had a phone call while you were away."

"Did I?"

"Yes, it was from that nice boy."

"Takeru-san?"

"Oh, no, no, oh, how embarrassing to forget his name. He's an older boy. He's studying to-"

"Jou-san?!"

"Yes, of course that was it!"

Iori wasn't even around to hear the confirmation, he had already run to the phone. "Jou-san..." he said as he nervously pressed the numbers.

"Yes?" the voice on the phone said.

"Jou-san!... Ah, I'm sorry. This is Iori."

"Iori-kun, I thought I recognized your voice. Um, I just wanted to know, this Sunday morning, are you free?"

"Yes! Yes, I am!" Iori exclaimed. "Um... That is, yes, I am," he said in a calmer voice.

"If you want to, why don't we go on a date then?"

"Yes, yes, I'd like that," Iori said.

"Great! Not that I thought you'd reject or anything."

Iori blushed, not saying anything in his blissful state.

"But um.... I'm sorry it took so long for me to ask you. I would have said something sooner, but I didn't know how my schedule was going to turn out and I wouldn't want to let you down."

"Oh, don't be sorry!" Iori said. "Jou-san, you're worth waiting for."

"Hearing you say that, I guess I got all worried for nothing," Jou said.

"Oh no," Iori said, smiling again.


End file.
